Hi Dan! Welcome to CWE. thank you for your service to our country. I am the daughter, niece, cousin, wife, and friend to people who haver served in our armed forces. As for what is causing your seizures...honestly, there is no way to tell for certain. However, I would suggest that you start keeping a daily journal.. Here's what you want to write down.
1. Food and Drink (what, when, how much...)
2. Sleep (how many hours each night, and whether it's interrrupted.)
3. Stress ( any stress, and what you do to deal with it.)
4. OTC meds/herbal supplements/vitamins you might be taking
5. odd feelings (odd feelings/smells/sounds/tastes/feelings, deja vu, headaches, etc..)
6. Seizures (when, how long they last, what they look like, where you have them, how you feel afterward.)
Ok...your keeping track of all this to see if you can find a pattern. Many of us have seizures that are triggered by specific things. For example food allergies, too much stress, not enough sleep, too much caffeine, etc... If you can avoid the triggers, hopefully you can get better control over the seizures. Also, if you give a copy of the journal to your docs, it might give them a better idea of whats going on.
As for causes...honestly, many of us don't know exactly what caused our seizures. But the usual suspects are:
genetics
migraines with auras
head injuries
food allergies
illnesses with high fevers as children
Yes, these causes can happen while children, and then not manifest as seizures till much older.
To help you with seizure control, make sure that you do the following:
1. Make sure you eat 6 small meals a day (small as in will fit on a dessert plate. And for every carb, you need to have protein.) (Your doing this to make sure that your blood sugar level is steady. Low blood sugar can cause seizures. )
2. Get 7 hours of sleep each night.
3. Learn healthy ways to deal with stress (yoga, meditation, exercise, prayer, crafts, etc...)
4. Cut the caffeine out of your diet (coffee, sodas, tea, energy drinks...and if you drink alot of them, then wean off slowly.)
5. Quit drinking alcohol (or at least cut waaay back ...they can trigger seizures too.)
6. Limit how much sugar and processed food you eat.
Hope this helps.
